To replace the inevitable with hope
by Artimashunt
Summary: Erisol human/college!stuck in which I continue the trope of Aradia cheating on Sollux with Equius, leaving Eridan to try to help Sollux pick up the pieces. Many other pairings that will be noted on later. Currently on Hiatus. I'll probably continue this on a later date and also edit the first chapter/epilogue so that they aren't room-mates cuz I decided that's boring.


His name is Sollux Captor, and he isn't going to last another day. For any of you who have actually bothered to learn anything about supposed zodiac personalities, you might know that a Gemini will like change and travel and all of that whimsical shit.

Well, that's true for him... to a point. Sollux always liked change, he moved houses more times than anyone would care to remember and every time he switched schools, when he started high school, and even college were all great and exciting experiences for him. He welcomed them, embraced them, reveled in them. But that doesn't mean he didn't want something that never changed. Something that he could always go back to.

For the longest time Sollux had something like that, or rather someone. Her name? Aradia Megido. He has known her since he was little, they lived close to each other and then went to the same schools through high school. In college they went in different directions, Sollux went into computer coding and Aradia went into archeology and anthropology. Fortunately them colleges were close to each other.

Sollux was /not/ good with long distance relationships.

Yes, Aradia and Sollux had been dating since junior year. Oddly enough, it was Vriska's fault, Aradia's archnemesis. No one knows all the details, but Vriska's plan for revenge on Aradia somehow turned into Sollux Captor (gaming geek and social introvert) getting the guts to ask Aradia out. Dating her was natural, and the only difference was a few kisses here and there.

And maybe a bit further as they got older...

Returning to the point this distracted narrator started with.

But first, we need to take a step back in time... about a week ago.

Anniversaries are sappy as hell, and to be honest Sollux was not good at remembering dates. This year though, Sollux did remember. Though it was a week before, he wanted to do something nice for Aradia. So, he was at her dorm, containers in bags at his wrists as he opened the door.

But those bags dropped, and he couldn't make a sound. The words he had planned for his greeting would go unheard as they fled his mind. He couldn't take it, what he saw in her dorm. What she was doing... with him. His brain just shut off, emotions and comprehensive thought followed those words he'd chosen so delicately.

He didn't even wait for Aradia to notice, he just walked away. Leaving the bags on the floor and the door wide open. Surely she would know what that meant. Know that she had done something to break their relationship so much, there would be no salvation. No last string to hold it together.

No, that string was long gone. Severed, burned, destroyed, abolished, broken. The two wouldn't speak with each other for a long time, a harsh change for both. From having been attached at the hip to this... near strangerdom.

But that was Aradia's choice. Her delicate fingers, so small and delicate, held the scissors that snipped the cords. Those fingers that resembled the skeletons she found herself so infatuated with. Those fingers Sollux had held in platonic and flushed moments.

Those fingers that had held Sollux together for so long.

Now they were nothing but an enemy to him as they carried out their deed back there. Searching and roaming, amusing themselves, curling and laxing.

If it wasn't already obvious, Sollux had caught Aradia cheating.

Aradia, the girl who seemed so content with relationships and staying true to Sollux. She had betrayed him in the worst way.

Maybe she had a reason. Maybe she was getting tired with the continuous relationship. Aradia could have easily gotten bored with Sollux, as so many seemed to do with him. She had her fill and was looking for a new thrill, a new play thing to explore. And she had found it in. Equius Zahhak.

Let them be happy, what am I to interrupt them. Sollux thought. If Aradia wanted to leave him, who was he to stop her? Oh, just a long time friend and lover. But that isn't much. Not as much as her new toy. Her new heart to mess with.

Whatever that actually meant.

The door to Sollux's shared dorm room flung open and slammed shut as he entered. He didn't give a shit about disturbing his neighbors, or even his asshole of a roommate. Let them complain. He didn't care, he couldn't give less of a shit now. Let them come to him. Let them yell at him for being unkind, not courteous, rude.

Let them.

Anything would be better than leaving him to wallow in this absence he felt, the pain had shut off, but he could still feel it's dull thrum in his heart. He could still feel it gnawing at him.

The images of Aradia and Equius had burned into his brain. Seared and permanent on the back of his eyelids. He couldn't blink without seeing it or thinking about it. The only way he could think of to fix this was to sleep.

To let that blanket of comfort and nothingness bring him away from reality. Into another world or two. Into somewhere he felt safer, happier, loved.

He hadn't needed this kind of escape in years, but he sought after it now. He was about to close his eyes when his roommate strutted into the room.

"Sol, seriously. Are you going to sleep in your clothes? That is so unhealthy. And weren't you going to Aradia's for a dinner or whatev-"

Before Eridan could finish is trademark accented "whatever," a pillow hit him square in the face.

"Shut the fuck up ED, I am not in the mood, just go piss off on tumblr or something," and that was that. Sollux fell asleep after that, ending the second worst day in his existence.

But he missed something.

He missed Eridan's hesitation. He missed the return of the pillow that had been chucked halfway across the room. He missed the sad gaze Eridan had. Sollux would never know how Eridan let himself stare when Sollux had his head turned.


End file.
